Progressive Abdul El-Sayed wins Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary | CNN Politics

• Big win for progressives: Abdul El-Sayed defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s marquee Democratic primary for US Senate in a triumph for national progressive leaders. Explore results further and read takeaways here.

• Vows unity: El-Sayed downplayed the narrow margins of his victory, assuring voters the party is unified despite a divisive campaign. He also condemned GOP messaging tactics using his name, saying “I’ll be happy to give you lessons” on pronouncing it.

• A November must-win: El-Sayed will face Republican Mike Rogers in the fall. Democrats almost certainly have to hold the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Gary Peters to have a chance of winning Senate control.

• Elsewhere in the state: CNN also projects State Rep. Donavan McKinney, a democratic socialist, will defeat Rep. Shri Thanedar to win the Democratic primary in the 13th Congressional District. It marks the latest loss by an incumbent to a democratic socialist challenger this primary season.

Our live coverage of primaries in Michigan and four other states has concluded. Please scroll through the posts below to learn all the developments. You also can explore results further and read takeaways here.

Republican Tom Smith suspended his campaign for Michigan’s 8th Congressional District last month. But after he remained on the ballot and unexpectedly won the primary Tuesday — beating another Republican backed by President Donald Trump — he is back in.

“I am humbled and honored that Republicans have chosen me to take the fight to Kristen McDonald Rivet,” Smith said in a statement, referring to the Democratic incumbent. “I look forward to working with [House] Speaker [Mike] Johnson and the entire Republican team to expand our House majority and advance President Trump’s America First agenda to lower costs for working families and make America affordable again.”

The House GOP campaign arm signaled support for Smith, who is now Republicans’ standard bearer in a district they have been targeting since the start of the election cycle.

“McDonald Rivet has failed Michiganders and they will send her packing this fall when they elect commonsense conservative Thomas Smith,” Zach Bannon, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said in a statement.

The Trump-endorsed candidate, Amir Hassan, finished a distant second in the primary. In a video posted to Facebook on Wednesday, Hassan acknowledged the surprising loss and said he would “make no excuse” for it.

In a critical race with razor-thin margins, CNN has projected that progressive Abdul El-Sayed will win Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary.

It caps off the latest primary elections in several states and is the latest triumph for national progressive leaders. Michigan is a state Democrats almost certainly must win in November to take control of the Senate.

El-Sayed will face GOP former Rep. Mike Rogers in the fall.

Here’s the latest:

• Victory speech: El-Sayed sought to present a unifying message after a divisive primary campaign. Referring to his former rivals, Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, El-Sayed said that “we cannot wait to come together and win in November.” El-Sayed also called Stevens a committed public servant and said there is more that unites than divides them.
• Democratic reactions: Stevens congratulated El-Sayed on his win and said she was “proud to offer my support.” Democratic leadership also coalesced behind El-Sayed, praising the progressive after making their unofficial backing of Stevens clear during the race. Former Vice President Kamala Harris is raising money for El-Sayed.
• Outgoing senator: Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters said Democrats need to unite behind El-Sayed but emphasized that the progressive Democrat also has to start making inroads with the party “immediately.”
• Eyes toward November: Rogers released a statement on X slamming El-Sayed, claiming his Democratic opponent would make the state less safe and affordable for Michiganders. He also billed El-Sayed as an “extremist.”
• Republican reactions: Republican groups have begun releasing ads targeting El-Sayed. One from the Senate Leadership Fund and National Republican Senatorial Committee paints El-Sayed as “too radical.” President Donald Trump said El-Sayed’s projected victory is “Great news for the Republican Party.”

Abdul El-Sayed called out Republicans, including his GOP opponent Mike Rogers, after the National Republican Senatorial Committee issued a statement attacking the Democrat that referred to him by his full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed.

Other projections this morning:

• In another victory for progressives, State Rep. Donavan McKinney, a democratic socialist, is projected to defeat incumbent Rep. Shri Thanedar to win the Democratic primary in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District.
• In an upset, Tom Smith, who suspended his campaign last month, will defeat Trump-backed candidate Amir Hassan in the Republican primary in Michigan’s 8th Congressional District.

CNN’s Aditi Sangal, David Wright, Arlette Saenz, Kaanita Iyer, Aileen Graef, Aaron Blake, Annie Grayer, Abigail Roedersheimer, Richa Sharma and Patrick Svitek contributed reporting.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders hailed Abdul El-Sayed’s win in the Michigan Democratic primary for Senate as “the most extraordinary victory that I can think of in modern American politics.”

“Abdul took on the entire Michigan Democratic establishment, he took on the entire national Democratic establishment and perhaps even more significantly, he took on, in an unprecedented away, almost $70 million of outside spending,” Sanders told reporters on a call Wednesday afternoon. “I cannot recall in a major campaign any candidate prevailing under that onslaught of money and political pressure.”

Sanders was one of El-Sayed’s most prominent supporters, visiting Michigan multiple times to campaign with him as he faced off against Rep. Haley Stevens. Sanders also backed two other successful candidates in Tuesday’s primary in Michigan: Donavan McKinney, who defeated Rep. Shri Thanedar, and Will Lawrence, who won the Democratic nomination to challenge Republican Rep. Tom Barrett in his battleground district.

Democrats who opposed El-Sayed in the primary were concerned about his ability to win the general election. Sanders said he was confident El-Sayed would beat Republican nominee Mike Rogers, arguing El-Sayed showed in the primary that he can “expand the voter turnout universe.”

Climate activist Will Lawrence dismissed concerns that his progressive views could turn off swing voters in Michigan’s battleground 7th District after he defeated two more moderate candidates in the Democratic primary.

“We’re building this campaign on face to face conversations with voters across the district,” Lawrence told CNN’s Manu Raju on “Inside Politics.” “We’re finding tons of common ground on issues like stopping AI data centers, stopping these stupid wars around the world, and investing in housing and health care that we can actually afford and count on.”

Lawrence noted that he let his Democratic Socialists of America membership lapse last month, saying that while he has a lot of respect for the group, “I felt a need to make it very clear that the platform we’re running on here is the one that has come up based on the conversations we’re having across the 7th District.”

He also addressed controversy that surfaced in the final stretch of his primary campaign, when The Huffington Post in July reported that he’d said on a 2024 podcast that Black political leaders’ support for Democratic leadership “defangs the White left.” He has since apologized for those remarks, but Democrats remain anxious that his history of strident rhetoric could damage the party’s chances of ousting freshman Republican Rep. Tom Barrett.

Speaking Wednesday, Lawrence reiterated that he regretted the 2024 comments, and said that he “look forward to having conversations very soon” with members of the Congressional Black Caucus, hoping to “restore some trust.” And he said that he would vote for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker of the House, though they had not yet connected.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was asked about the comparison some are making between himself and Abdul El-Sayed, who CNN projected will win the Democratic Senate nomination in Michigan.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has been a vocal advocate for change in the Democratic Party, congratulated progressive Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed for his victory in Michigan’s primary election Tuesday.

“He ran a campaign where it was best described by his words of money out of politics, money in your pocket, Medicare for all,” Mamdani said during an event at City Hall in New York Wednesday, praising El-Sayed as the type of candidate he believes could change the party.

Mamdani has said he has spoken with El-Sayed a few times but did not specify if the pair has spoken following this victory.

When asked about the comparison some have made between the two politicians, Mamdani brushed off the sentiment.

“I don’t think in any way this matter is he a ‘mini Mamdani,’” he said. “What we’re talking about is someone who has shone a light on the importance of public health and healthcare in our country for years, and I am proud to be part of a movement of politicians and candidates who are looking to put working class Americans back at the heart of our politics, and that’s our focus here in New York City. And just from what we’re seeing in Michigan, it looks like that’s what Michiganders want to be their focus coming up.”

He did not say if he would formally endorse El-Sayed in the general election in November. So far, the mayor has focused his endorsements on New York races.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris is raising money for Abdul El-Sayed after he won the Democratic primary for Senate in Michigan.

Harris, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, urged her supporters to donate to El-Sayed’s campaign in an email Wednesday afternoon. She acknowledged that he was emerging from a contentious primary against Rep. Haley Stevens.

“This was a hard-fought Democratic primary, and Michiganders were lucky to have such inspiring leaders step up in this moment,” Harris said.

A Harris spokesperson made clear before the primary that she would not get involved but noted she was “grateful” to have the support of both Stevens and El-Sayed when she ran for president in 2024.

Michigan GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers released a statement on X slamming Abdul El-Sayed, claiming his Democratic opponent would make the state less safe and affordable for Michiganders.

“For more than 25 years, one party has controlled Michigan’s two Senate seats — and they’ve run our state into the ground … And now the same failed politicians are asking us to send Abdul El-Sayed to Washington. Abdul isn’t just another liberal. He’s an extremist,” the former Republican congressman wrote.

El-Sayed narrowly defeated Rep. Haley Stevens, a moderate congresswoman from Michigan’s 11th District, while Rogers ran virtually uncontested for his party’s nomination. El-Sayed and Rogers will now face off in November’s general election.

“He wants to empty prisons and put murderers and sex offenders back on our streets. He pledged his support to the Muslim Brotherhood and campaigns with people who refuse to condemn terrorism. And, he advocated for the largest tax hike in American history — costing families already struggling to make ends meet over $3000 more per year,” Rogers continued.

“Never in a million years did I think that I would be running against someone who believes America deserved 9/11,” he added, referring to El-Sayed’s campaigning with Hasan Piker, a popular far-left Twitch streamer who has said he regretted his comment about the September 11 attacks.

Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters said Democrats need to unite behind Abdul El-Sayed but emphasized that the progressive Democratic nominee also has to start making inroads with the party “immediately.”

Peters said he spoke to El-Sayed today to congratulate him on his victory and relayed that El-Sayed assured him that he will start reaching out across the party.

“I think he just needs to start reaching out to folks, which I’m sure he will. And that has to start immediately, which he assured me will happen,” Peters said of how El-Sayed can unite Democrats in Michigan.

“We have to come together and understand that whatever differences existed between Haley Stevens and Abdul (El-Sayed), those are very small compared to the difference between Abdul and (GOP nominee) Mike Rogers, and we’re going to make sure that our Democratic Party comes together in Michigan and reach out to independent voters to win the race,” Peters added.

Asked by CNN what El-Sayed’s win means for the direction of the Democratic Party, given Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ pick won over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s preferred candidate, Peters said “Michigan is very diverse. We’ve seen it before.”

On whether El-Sayed’s views on Israel reflect the direction of the Democratic Party, Peters said, “certainly he campaigned on that issue, and the results speak for themselves.”

Abdul El-Sayed downplayed “intra-family squabbles” when asked about the close Democratic race and divisive primary campaign, as he cast the result as a catharsis for state Democrats.

“Sometimes, you know, intra-family squabbles are the biggest ones, but we all know that when we walk out of the house, we stand united,” El-Sayed said, when asked by CNN about the narrow margins for his projected victory. “And sometimes we gotta have it out about the conversation about who we are and who we want to be.”

With 99% of the vote counted, El-Sayed led by under 15,000 out of more than 1.5 million votes cast. He hailed the record-breaking turnout in the Senate primary, saying that “when you’ve got 500,000 more voters who came out to be a part of a process to pick a nominee, that means that their voices have been heard.”

And referring to his former rivals, Rep. Haley Stevens and state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, El-Sayed noted that “we’ve had some great conversations about where we go from here, and we cannot wait to come together and win in November.”

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